Crews put up the last of the letters in the Sports Authority at Mile High sign going up on the stadium. They will fill in the letters with red pieces of fiberglass once they are in place. Above the letters will be mountains. The entire sign which is on the south side of the stadium is scheduled to be finished on Friday, September 9th, 2011.Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post

While Sports Authority girds for restructuring under an imminent bankruptcy filing, marketing experts say the gasping company should not dim its glowing red presence on the home of the Denver Broncos.

“You have got to keep spending on marketing and you have got to reposition and shore up your defenses in your home market. And a billboard on a highway in a city that is growing by 15,000 people a month, at a stadium that is home to the Super Bowl champions, that’s a very good deal,” said Darrin Duber-Smith, a marketing professor at Metropolitan State University.

Sports Authority Field at Mile High costs the company about $6 million to $7 million a year. The sporting goods retailer was battling the nation’s leading Dick’s Sporting Goods in 2011 when it took over struggling investment firm Invesco Ltd.’s naming rights deal for Mile High Stadium.

Back then, there was a specter of trouble that haunted naming rights deals. High profile collapses in the dotcom, energy, auto and airlines industries had led to even higher profile name changes at stadiums and arenas across the land. From PSINET in Baltimore, to Enron in Houston to TWA, Delta and American Airlines, a dozen bankruptcies led many to ponder a possible curse on companies landing increasingly pricey naming rights deals. Inking a long-term contract for naming rights seemed a harbinger of financial trouble ahead.

“You only hear about companies when it goes wrong but you never hear from the companies that are doing well because of their naming rights deal or how companies are using naming rights as a platform to grow their business,” said Jeff Marks, managing director of California’s Premiere Partnerships, an industry leader in securing long-term partnerships and naming rights deals for venues like the Texas Rangers’ Globe Life Park and Oakland’s O.co Coliseum.

Naming rights are bigger than marketing and branding, Marks said.

“It’s about creating a human resources community and sales platform,” he said. “It should be an integral part of a company’s overall business strategy more than just a part of their marketing strategy.”

Marketing 101 shows that hanging the banner is only the first step in a deeper, more expensive process. Companies need to leverage that partnership. It’s called activating the sponsorship. Most companies need to spend $1 to $2 for every dollar they spend on a naming rights deal to gain market traction, Duber-Smith said.

“I question if Sports Authority had enough money to leverage the sponsorship,” Duber-Smith said. “There was speculation they really couldn’t afford this naming rights deal. Dick’s came in and put a name on a stadium in their hometown before they did. Perhaps the Mile High deal was a bit reactionary. Either way, if they take their name off that stadium, it sends the wrong message to customers at a time when they really need to be showcasing a new business model.”

The Metropolitan Football Stadium District, which splits Sports Authority’s roughly $6 million annual payment with the Denver Broncos, has had no indication of any looming issues from the company, said district spokesman Matt Sugar. The company’s next payment of $3.6 million is due in August. A spokesman for the Denver Broncos said the same thing: there’s no sign from the company of any pending changes to the naming rights payment plan or that August check.

“They remain in good standing at this juncture,” Sugar said.

Jason Blevins: 303-954-1374, jblevins@denverpost.com or @jasonblevins

High profile bankruptcies of companies that hung their names on stadiums and arenas

1999 Fruit of the Loom, Miami Pro Player Park

2001 National Car Rental, National Car Rental Field, Sunrise, Florida, $2.2 million a year

2001 PSINET, PSINET Stadium, Baltimore, $5.3 million a year

2001 Enron, Enron Field, Houston, $3.3 million a year

2001 TWA, TWA Dome, St. Louis, $1.3 million a year

2002 Conseco, Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, $2 million a year

2002 Adelphia, Adelphia Coliseum, Nashville, $2 million a year

2002 MCI Worldcom, MCI Center, Washington D.C., $2.2 million a year

2002 CMGI, CMGI Field, New England, $7.6 million a year

2005 Delta, Delta Center, Salt Lake City, $2 million to $2.5 million a year

Jason Blevins covers tourism, mountain business, skiing and outdoor adventure sports for both the business and sports sections at The Denver Post, which he joined in 1997. He skis, pedals, paddles and occasionally boogies in the hills and is just as inspired by the lively entrepreneurial spirit that permeates Colorado's high country communities as he is by the views.

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